TGH & Roberts

[Port Said Red]

3 hours ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Thinking back to last night, it was a scrappy game that belonged in non league football. It reminded me of an FA Cup match where a prem team visits a L2 side and gets dragged down into a long ball battle.

It is no surprise that some players found it hard to adjust. It isn't the sort of training they would be used to, so on that basis it is probably best not to judge anyone on that game alone.

Bloody hell mate, do you have a microphone hidden in my house? That's almost word for word what I said to my wife when she asked me what the game was like. 

I don't know what it is about Rotherham, but it always feels like that against them every time. @Davefevs will probably have a greater depth on how they stopped us playing, but the one thing I noticed was that Pring could hardly get over the halfway line because of the way they kept overloading that right side.

[Alessandro]

13 hours ago, Betty Swallocks said:

TGH hasn’t been signed to play RB long term. 
He looks a tidy footballer, looking forward to seeing him play in his more favoured position. 

Exactly this - people have probably got used to a more defensive RB in Tanner and TGH is much more dynamic going forward, which of course will leave him exposed at the back, especially with Sykes perhaps too used to a conservative RB behind him, so not covering as well as he should.

As you say I think TGH's best position is not RB and seeing his technicality on the ball, engine and range of passing (see the highlights for 2 excellent cross field passes in the second half) - think there is much more to come and we'll see in CM soon IMO.

 

[Sir Geoff]

Of more concern to me is Pring's last couple of performances. imo he has looked unusually weak and lacking in a bit of confidence on the ball.

[Open End Numb Legs]

26 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Bloody hell mate, do you have a microphone hidden in my house? That's almost word for word what I said to my wife when she asked me what the game was like. 

 

Yeh, a bit of a giveaway quoting you word for word.

By the way, I like the idea of the holiday you are planning and the washing machine sounds on the way out. Could you get the dog to bark less? Thanks! 

[Wellspokenman]

14 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Quite right, they are both players of quality, but they are being asked to fill in holes in our squad right now. Roberts showed that in one of the home games where he came on after 70 minutes and ended up playing in 3 different positions. It showed his versatility, but hardly helps him to settle. 

I think TGH has more to show us from dead ball situations too.

I hope so, as our dead ball plays are just woeful !

One area of the game that you would think could easily but improved upon.

[Davefevs]

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Bloody hell mate, do you have a microphone hidden in my house? That's almost word for word what I said to my wife when she asked me what the game was like. 

I don't know what it is about Rotherham, but it always feels like that against them every time. @Davefevs will probably have a greater depth on how they stopped us playing, but the one thing I noticed was that Pring could hardly get over the halfway line because of the way they kept overloading that right side.

Not an easy game to be analytical about watching on Skytv when you can only see a third of the pitch at anyone time.  FWIW my main thoughts were:

• if you can play out from deep at the back and beat the press, your opponent will stop pressing you high, and you can get up the pitch - we didn’t do that early game
• if you can keep the ball, even if only going sideways, your opponent will eventually switch off and you can then start to try to get up the pitch - we didn’t do that early game
• if you can stop their keeper from kicking halfway into his half and maybe from within his own box, you’ll find yourselves naturally further up the pitch to challenge from the ball and if you win, your possession starts 20 yards further up - we didn’t do that early game, let Johansen dribble out of his box and then launch it.  We got caught offside gave away free-kicks that allowed him to launch it deep

When we started to do the above we looked a more competent team, e.g. second half.

Players like Hugill, ot doesn’t matter if he doesn’t win the long ball, he’s there mainly to disrupt.  Nothing worse for Tiehi, Rathbone and Cafu to anticipate a loose ball off of a contested Hugill challenge with the CB, but see a good clean header go over their heads and have to run backwards, probably against an opponents who beyond them.

So, in summary, we couldn’t impose our game early on, and you effectively had two teams slinging long balls at each other, with one team more set up to do so (Rotherham).

What was good was that we defended pretty resolutely.  Sometimes you have to.

3 hours ago, Sir Geoff said:

Of more concern to me is Pring's last couple of performances. imo he has looked unusually weak and lacking in a bit of confidence on the ball.

I’m not saying this is the only reason, but I think Sam Bell as LF isn’t protecting him that well, so he’s being left 1v1 a lot.  Green is pretty quick too.

Having said that it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s not 100% / nursing himself through games.  That’s not unusual, lots of players will playing carry knocks, but I agree.  He doesn’t look like the Pring of last season, although I still think he’s playing fine.

In good possession phases I think Bell needs to “clear the way for him” more, but he’s a bit of a  touchline “hugger” and that denies Pring space to drive forward.

Off of long balls last night Bell did come more central (so that’s good), but generally he’s happy to stay out wide.

[Better Red]

19 hours ago, Davefevs said:

 

I hope he keeps up his fine record….more, more!

Not writing anyone of yet.

I just said what I saw last night and in last few games.

TGH did not look like a £1m player last night. He looked like he struggled to make a tackle and track bacK. I would say those two are a given when spending £1m quid. That’s the big point I am making he is ‘£1m quid not a free transfer’

He can def find a pass and looks good on the ball and clearly something there but that side of the game is very important in ‘this team’

Bakinson was kicked out pretty quickly for not doing the same but his was his effort rather than ability to do it. TGH is not his attitude or effort.

 

Also for the last time said Seymenyo not a Striker. Said he will never score 10 goals a season -  2+ years later I am still right but let’s not let the facts get in the way.
Don’t forget to keep messaging when he scores it’s been very quiet for such a long time.

 

 

 

[GeoTheCiderHead]

I only started watching the game on Sky Sports from 25 minutes onwards and as someone who is definitely more glass half empty than glass half full, I actually thought that TGH was half decent. Some nice touches and some clever passes particularly in the second half. I’m assuming he had most of his negative moments during the first 25 minutes that I didn’t watch? Couldn’t work out what I thought of HR’s performance - didn’t do anything worthy of note good or bad.